ELLE.com Best Friend Quest

Who’s your best friend? It’s a tough question, if you’re lucky. Because the truth is, many people have multiple best friends. There’s the best friend from when you were little, the one you met in high school, your college roommate, that random girl you met in a bar and discovered was your soul mate…

Here are 21 types of best friends that we’ve encountered over the years.

(2,7,11,15 & 16)
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1. The Free Spirit Best Friend

This girl wears headbands across her forehead rather than on top of her head and can often be seen with feather earrings. She is horrible at making plans (“Let’s just see where the wind blows!”) and doesn’t understand why you get mad when she shows up 30 minutes late to dinner…with her new dog and/or boyfriend.

2.  Your Childhood Best Friend

You frequently warn people that she’s known you your whole life before they meet her. This is either because (a) you’ve become entirely different people in your older ages or (b) you’re worried that she’ll tell tons of embarrassing (true) stories about you to your new BFFs. Oh, and you have a thousand adorable #tbt worthy photos of the two of you naked in the bathtub.

3. The Imaginary Best Friend

Admit it. You stalk her on Instagram. You know her mother’s name and the date of her brother’s wedding, and when she broke up with her boyfriend, you wanted to send her flowers. The only problem? You’ve never met her. Meet the imaginary best friend: the girl you swear you’d be BFFAE with…if you only knew each other. (Hey, Beyoncé)

4. The Best Friend You Secretly Hate

The sound of her voice makes you want to stab your eyes out with forks and your initial reaction to seeing her name pop up on your cell phone is to throw said phone against a brick wall. Everything about her drives you crazy from the way she laughs to how she puts on her mascara…but she’s your best friend. So you love her? You love her.

5. The Best Friend That’s Your Twin

You look alike, you talk alike, you dress alike. When you’re in the same place, people accidentally call you by one another’s names. Those Lindsay Lohan twins in The Parent Trap wish they were the two of you.

6. The Best Friend That’s Your Opposite

You’re blonde, she’s brunette. You’re clean as a whistle, and she’s completely covered in tattoos. You have absolutely nothing in common but somehow it works perfectly. Hey, opposites attract!

7. The Activities Best Friend

Jogging, shopping, museum excursions: she’s up for it all. She’s the one you call when you’re keen for an adventure—because if you don’t have a mind-blowing idea in mind (Slip 'n Slide in Central Park, anyone?), she already does. Just don’t ask her to relax with you on a Sunday afternoon.

8. The Fancy Best Friend

Make sure you have your credit card on you for hang time with this one. She only dines at nice restaurants or drinks at hotel bars. She’s always wearing something extremely chic and talking about stuff you only half understand. But she’s perfect for a staycation…because you can just head uptown to her two bedroom apartment. She’ll most likely be in the Hamptons anyway.

9. The Drinking Buddy Best Friend

Wait…what’s she like sober?

10. The Debbie Downer Best Friend

Don't even think about asking her for help when times are tough, because guaranteed, times are tougher for her. Everything sucks, everything hurts, everything is terrible all the time. Even the brightest day appears cloudy. Life is so hard.

11. The Enabler Best Friend

If you’re trying to kick a shopping addiction, cut carbs, or get over an ex-boyfriend, walk away from the enabler best friend. She will take you to the mall, bring you a donut, and arrange a romantic rendezvous for you and your former beau. But she swears, she’s just trying to help!

12. The Charlotte Best Friend

Her favorite clothes come in pastels and floral prints and next to you, her label maker is her best friend. She’s the Charlotte of the group —the politically correct, somewhat anxious, pristine, goody two-shoes. She gets really mad when she finds out you got too wasted and messed something up, but in an instant will bring you the perfect hangover cure to make you feel all better.

13. The Age-Gap Best Friend

She’s either five years older or five years younger. Truth be told, you rarely notice the age difference…as long as you stay away from those movies you watched when you were a kid…and she was in high school.

14. The Anti-Social Best Friend

She’s at her best on your couch ordering take out and watching The Bachelor. You don’t even think about bringing her around your other friends, because most of them don’t even know who she is and she's okay with that. She does, however, know your top three Ben & Jerry's flavors.

15. Work Best Friend

It’s impossible to get through the day without your best friend at work. You get lunch everyday and send 154 emails about your every move throughout the office. When she calls in sick you get worried you’re in a fight you don’t know about. But you’ve never, ever, seen her outside of the office. And you’re totally cool with that. It would be like seeing your first grade teacher at a bar. Gross.

16. Long Distance Best Friend

FaceTime and texting are pretty much your only modes of communication and you’re not sure you’d want it any other way. You can talk on the phone with her for hours on end and tell her anything because, well, she ain't home to really judge you!

17. The Know-It-All Best Friend

Careful what you tell her, because she’ll either already know it, or claim you’re wrong. The Know-It-All Best Friend always has the answer. Do NOT bring her to your neighborhood bar trivia night because she’ll throw her beer bottle against the wall if she’s accused of getting something wrong...And if you flub an answer? You'll spend the rest of the night hearing about it

18. Your Gay Best Friend

You can gossip about boys, but you won’t fight over them. He’ll give you a real honest-to-god opinion about whether wearing that crop top is a good idea with no ulterior motive. He’s the brunch date, dinner date, or drinking date that won’t put you in estrogen overload.

19. Your Dangerous Best Friend

She’s the girl your parents referred to as “part of the wrong crowd” when you were younger. Now, she’s the one always sleeping through her alarm, trying to get you to try extreme sports, and apologizing for making your nights end up in some weird outer borough that no respectable mode of transportation (public or not) will go to.

20. Your Blood Best Friend

Your parents have spent your entire life trying to get you to say you’re best friends, not just sisters, but the truth is, she really is your best friend. And for good reason. You’ve known each other your entire life. It’s best to have her in your corner.

21. Your Best Friend’s Best Friend

Obviously it makes sense you get along. You share a best friend! But in reality, you’ve grown to like her more than your actual best friend. Most likely your topics of conversation revolve around making fun of the shared BFF, but eventually it morphs into true friendship and you’ve completely forgotten about what’s-her-face? No, really. What was her name?